


The Chess of Life

by CatWarrior98



Category: Diabolik Lovers, Vampire Knight (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, F/M, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-03-04 21:10:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18820798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatWarrior98/pseuds/CatWarrior98
Summary: After being subjected to some gruesome events and, consequently, ending up scarred both physically and emotionally, Yui Komori grows tired of being left in the shadow and decides to escape from the Sakamakis and Mukamis. Her main goal: get as much information possible about her true origins to understand why she was left in such a precarious situation. Meanwhile, other people may come into her life and cause deep changes, being good or evil, them being complete strangers or ghosts of the past, each one of them with their own scars, their own goals, their own board of life.





	1. Prologue

"In every single thing you do, you're choosing a direction. Your life is a product of choices" (Dr. Kathleen Hall). 

I could not define better the ways of life, how it works...is true what the quote says. The causes of our decisions are situations created by a web of choices made by those before, around, or at our side in life...but what you make of them is what will define what's the real important thing: your next move, your choice after that, which path you'll take. You can't avoid but ask yourself these questions: am I willing to suffer the consequences, can I HANDLE the consequences? 

Every decision leads to a certain degree of suffering and ordeal, but both will be your choice if you're the one in command of your life. All that rests of it then is knowing how to deal with it, get wiser, get smarter, find some joy in it. To eat the fruit you want, you must work hard the land, you must take care of the seed you've planted for it to grow and then, when the tree is fully formed, after drinking from your sweat and tears, you'll be able to eat its fruit. What it'll taste like depends on how much you desire and crave it. Better sow something you want, or else, you'll never appreciate the taste, and you'll eventually starve to death in your hunger for life. This is my lesson for you: life is a beautiful yet dangerous and complex chess game. Victory or loss, it'll all depend on your choices, so choose carefully.


	2. Genesis

_I know this place...I've been at it for some time. How could I not recognize this mansion? The same mansion where the ghosts that haunt me reside. I'm back...I'm walking in the hallways, only lightened by the raging storm outside. I can't find anyone. I do what everyone, wary of the silence and loneliness of a huge house where two families of noisy brothers live, would do: I call for someone._

__ Hello? Is anybody home? Hello?_

_There's a sound that terrifies me. The growl of a beast behind me. I turn around and I see a wolf. It stops growling to smell me, while I'm petrified, unable to react and run for my life. The animal is huge...it must from the same mysterious pack pack that attacked both the Sakamakis and Mukamis before. But the mortal bite I was expecting never came, in fact, the animal watches me intently, as if someone else is seeing me through its eyes. This doesn't comfort me either, the idea of an unknown force behind it scares me...for I know that I'm their target. Reiji brought up that assumption once. But there's something that surprises me and catches me off guard. The wolf is killed, by having its stomach opened by a clawed hand, a hand I know too well. He stands before me, wearing only his white shirt. His jacket and his red necktie somehow are missing. Ayato is always quite the imponent vampire when it comes to quick action. He intimidates me, but somehow, is one of the few vampires I feel I can trust, at least when it concerns to my own survival. He sees me as his own property, and treats me very rudely much of the time, but he has saved my life before, first when Kanato was choking me during his exhibition of his rather disturbing collection of the former sacrificial brides' corpses; secondly, when he fought Richter, who was trapping me during Cordelia's possession over my body, and the last time was when he took me from the Mukamis, who had been drinking my blood for a week without stopping, while the Sakamakis never did such a thing, because they think my blood tastes better if I'm healthy and not too anemic. Well, at least with him, I know who I'm dealing with. But there's something in the way he looks at me that is unsettling...his orbs are dilated, and he's circling me, like a predator surrounding his prey. Worst of all, he doesn't say anything, he just walks around me. That's not his normal behaviour, he's usually very talkative, always boasting himself, or telling me to do something for him. I feel him grabbing my hands roughly. He squeezes them to the point of almost breaking my wrists. Then...then he...pushes me to the ground and bites my neck with such force that it feels more like I'm being bitten by an angry dog. I scream in pain, but he doesn't stop there...the next thing he does is squeezing my breasts and ripping my shirt! I beg him to stop, and I'm crying, but he doesn't...then he...he...!_

I wake up in a jolt, feeling sweat all over my body. This isn't the first time I've had this nightmare. I've been allowed few peaceful dreams since my escape from the Sakamakis and Mukamis. How long has it been since then? Two months? About three? Everything is happening so fast in my life, I lost notion of time. But I still remember everything...everything, including the same night where I died inside. That was...the worst thing I've ever been through...just as horrible, if not worst than what Ayato did to me. The desperation, the pain, the blood all over my hands...I just...how can I ever forget that?! Everything that was left of Yui Komori, sweet, innocent, naive, docile Yui Komori, is gone! I burnt to the ground, and all that is left is ashes and the little spark that threatens to bring me back to life, not as my former self, but as an enterily new being...a new person...because I know I'll never be the same after what happened. I'm staying the night at a friend's appartment, someone I met after that hideous occasion, who helped me. I lived with him for some weeks. I didn't trust him much then, since my trust in other people has wavered incredibly, but I didn't have much of a choice: it was either attempting my luck, or continue living in that hell.  With time, eventually, I came to like him and we eventually developed a friendship. His name is Dylan Hearst, and he's about my age, only two years my senior. He is rather good looking, though I tend to mistrust good looking people after my stay at Kamina city. He is tall, athletic, with fair skin, beautiful turquoise eyes that shine with a natural kindness and genuine mischief, and blonde locks of straight hair tied in a messy bun. He also wears an earring piercing, which gives him a certain look of wilderness and indomitability, a courage I never had in my life, in part because my father protected me too much from the horrors of the world, so I had no need to develop it, until now...

He's living in Tokyo. His parents are very rich: his father, Christoper Hearst, is a shareholder of many world companies, and he is the most recent CEO of Nissan. His mother, Katherine, is one of the greatest stylists of Chanel. They're currently doing business here, in Tokyo, and will live here for a while, though, I've never met them in person. Dylan is living alone, because he wants to feel what is like to be a little independent from his parents, and it seems they've consented, though his mother is always calling him, to know if he's doing ok. They let me stay with him, after he explained a bit of my situation to them. Mrs. Hearst even offered me a job at Chanel, so I could sustain myself. I decided to wait for my father's return. For the first time ever, I contacted him, and he basically cried when he talked to me. He tried to contact me on several occasions, but he couldn't, since Subaru broke my cellphone when I arrived at the Sakamakis'. And I found out his own phone was stolen and was in Laito's possession when I tried to call him from a public phone. How this happened, I don't know, I only know my father had to buy a new one because he couldn't find his old one, and tried to call me with it and couldn't. When I told him I was in Kamina this whole time and gave him the Sakamakis' address, he became surprised and didn't know what I was talking about, confirming what Richter said about him not being involved at all in my arrival at that mansion. It seems I was supposed to go to another place, a town named Koyasaka, which is located in Japan's interior, and attend my classes at Cross Academy, which is directed by one of his childhood friends, Kaien Cross. Someone changed the address, and stole his phone. Whatever happened, we both concluded this couldn't be some mistake. Someone stole his phone and changed the address to get me to the Sakamakis, and it was carefully planned so my father and his friends couldn't find me that easily. Nevertheless, he sent for a friend to come pick me, a man named Toga Yagari. He came, and let's say, he is quite intimidating. He is a tall man, with olive skin, messy dark purple hair cascating along his neck, and a very piercing and calculating blue eye, while the other is covered by an eyepatch. When I met him, he was wearing a suit, but I came to realize his preference was kind of a cowboy style. He is a cold man, like some sort of warrior that could snap your neck should you try something funny with him. However, he was very understanding with my troubles, after I told him what happened, except for the vampire part. I begged him not to tell anything to my father, because I want to be the one telling him...when I feel ready to talk about the whole truth with him. He thought it was better to wait for my father in Tokyo, instead of moving to Koyasaka already, so I could gather my thoughts and stay a little longer with Dylan. I'm Dylan's neighbour, and I decided to spend a last night with him, since my father returns tomorrow from his trip in Europe. He is a priest, and participates in many missions, and this one, so far, was the biggest he did in his whole life. We've always moved on quite a lot in Japan, that's why I never got the chance to make real friends. My studies were my refuge, but even that is lost...I ceased to attend classes at Ryoutei Academy. It was for the better, I couldn't take the risk of them finding me there and taking me captive again. I don't even know if I want to go to Koyasaka...I'm tired of moving, I want a place where I can truly call it home. Dylan seems to understand me, since he had a similar childhood, the only difference is that he has both parents and they're more rich. Another thing that always saddened me was not having a mother. My father always told me she had died when I was very little, and that's why he became a priest, because he wouldn't love any woman as he loved her. But I never saw any pictures of her, and he never talked about her that much. Now I understand why...I am adopted. I found out about that at the Sakamakis'. It seems they too stole my father's diary, alongside a photo of him holding me when I was a baby. Those were the only things I took with me from the Sakamakis', and my rosary too. Dylan has purchased new clothes for me, and I decided to try a new style. I don't want anything that may have to do with the former me, before the events...I'm more adept of sporty style, now. I'm wearing jeans more frequently, varsity jackets of different colors, sneakers and all-stars, t-shirts and checkered shirts above them sometimes as a jacket...speaking of which, I bought some leather jackets too. I felt kinda bad for all of this, but Dylan insisted on helping and was the one indicating the best clothes and shoes. He even offered me some earrings and bracelets, as well as three new dresses. I changed my hairstyle as well. I put those childish hairclips on the garbage and I now tie my hair in a ponytail or a messy bun. My hair has grown a bit more, beyond my shoulder blades to be precise. I never wore my remaining old clothes, I plan on giving them to some charity organization. I guess poorer girls will have more use for them than me. 

I get up, and try to slow down my breathing. I'm calming down now. I'm going to be ok...no panick attack today, as it usually happens whenever I dream of my traumas. Poor Dylan was always the one helping me with those...Mr. Yagari tries his best too. I can't wait for my father's return, but also, I'm scared...I know things will change drastically from now on, and I'm scared of not knowing how. I look at myself in the mirror: my hair is messy and cascating down my shoulders; my magenta eyes, once with that optimistic glint, have bags and seem rather cold, hollow, confused, and sad; my body weight increased, because I've been trying to forget my problems by indulging myself in food, especially sweets, during the times I'm really down. I'm changing so much, I can't even recognize myself. I'm not that naive anymore, I don't trust people like I used to, I always expect the worst to happen and try to prepare myself for it. But there's more to it...I'm tiring of being weak, I'm tired of these traumas. I feel like a feeble flame is burning brighter and brighter inside me. Could it be a desire for real freedom, from my past, to start again? Could it be, perhaps, an urging for revenge? 

**_ Hummm...it could be both, my sweet.**

I look around, frantically. I swear, I heard a woman's voice! What the hell...

 


	3. Winds of Change

Buildings, people, cars and road, that’s everything I can see from the inside of Mr. Yagari’s car. Today is the day, I marked it on the calendar, I can’t stop looking at my watch. It’s only some minutes to the airport, only some damn minutes to see my father again, yet it seems like an eternity here, and Mr. Yagari is going at a high speed. I guess I’m just too nervous to see him again. Some part of me believes this is a dream, another part struggles to make me believe this is reality. All those months in Kamina I longed to see him again, and now that the moment has finally come, I don’t know what to do, I don’t know how to feel. So many emotions overflow my thoughts right now, like: how is he? What will he think of me when I talk to him? What will I think of him when I confront him with the truth? Will everything still be the same? Or will there be changes? I’m so scared. I wish Dylan was here with me, but he had things to tend to. I’m so focused on my thoughts that I hardly notice Mr. Yagari parking the car and telling me we’ve arrived. We enter the airport and wait for my father, and after some more minutes, he finally comes. I could recognize the tall brunette man anywhere. His messy reddish-brown hair has grown more, is almost the same in length as Mr. Yagari’s, and he has let his beard grow a bit too, last time I saw him, he had it shaved. His hazel eyes stare at me with love and care. I find myself shedding a few tears and running towards him. As usually, he lets go of his bags to hold me up as we embrace. By now, I am sobbing hard, and he sighs against my messy blonde hair. When I manage to calm myself down, I help him and Mr. Yagari with his package and we get in the car. We’ve spent the whole trip in silence, the only time when it was broken being when my father told me everything was going to be ok. We arrive at Mr. Yagari’s apartment at last, and he gives us some time to have the so dreaded conversation. He is the first one asking what exactly happened to me. I find myself not knowing where to start, but eventually we start with the address. I tell him what I told him on the phone: that I got in the wrong place and that the people were strange and treated me badly. I tell him it was a family of six brothers and that they were born from different marriages of their father (not mentioning the polygamy of course), and they also had an uncle that seemed to be the only one to know how I ended up there. I tell him his name was Richter, and I notice him stiff slightly. He asks me what they did, and I tell him they liked to bully me, make me do things for them, they called me names and sometimes were physically violent with me…but I don’t tell him about the real aggressions, the bites, the threats and…that. I’m still unable to mention it even in my thoughts. It was just so terrible that…I simply can’t. I start to cry again, and he hugs me to soothe me. I’m not sure if I should bring up another subject. I have his diary in my keeping, and it reveals my adoption. If I tell him about this, then, surely, he’ll think even more that something is off, and he’ll probably take this to the police, and I don’t think the police will be able to stop vampires. Worst than that, I take the risk of being found again and kidnapped once more. I’d rather die than be at their mercy one more time, and I believe I’d literally die if they were to put their hands on me again. I decide to remain quiet, for now. I ask him how his trip in Europe was instead, and he tells me it was amazing, that he’d been in Germany and crossed the border on one weekend to visit some friends in France. He’s seen both Berlin and Paris. He liked more to be in the French capital, since he had people he knew better there, though he met great people at Berlin too. He showed me some pictures of the Eiffel Tower, of Notre Dame’s Cathedral and of Napoleon’s Triumph Arch. I don’t look at the pictures too much, since I’m too absorbed in my worries to enjoy them. Since he’s quite tired, he retires to take a nap, while I already have planned on going out with Dylan. He finally comes to pick me at 4 pm, as we had arranged. I decide to dress one of my jeans and my red varsity jacket, alongside red all-stars. My hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and my earrings are small silver hoop earrings. Looking at both of us, people must think I’m the female version of Dylan’s style, though his is way more swag than mine.  
_ Shall we go? – He asks, with his usual playful smirk. I nod and we go to some cafe. We drink refrigerants and taste some pastries as a snack, and then we go for a walk around the neighborhood. We end up losing notion of time, as we sit on a park, telling each other stories of our childhoods. I tell him how I’ve lived in Osaka, Kyoto, and a town called Kage, before I went to Kamina. My time in Kage was the best, since people were kinder there, and more welcoming, as it was a rural town. Because my father had to go to Europe, I was to move to Koyasaka, but things turned out differently. He, on the other hand, did not move from city to city, but from country to country. He was born at England, had spent half of his childhood at California, USA, but the rest of his life he spent it on Sydney, Australia, until his parents moved again to Japan. He told me he could have stayed back in Sydney, but wanted to see more of the world, so he agreed to live here, in Tokyo, and has liked it so far, though he misses his Australian friends sometimes.  
The sun has set, and the sky is dark with the night. My father is going to kill me if I don’t get home before 8 pm. As we go back to our building, the worst happens. To our horror, we hear growling, and we see a wolf.  
_ What the fuck?! A wolf in the city?! – Dylan says.  
_ Dylan…that’s one of the wolves I saw at Kamina… - I mumble, afraid.  
The beast shows its fangs in a terrifying smile and starts racing in Dylan’s direction! I scream for him to run, but what he does certainly catches me off guard. He races in the wolf’s direction and kills it with…only his hand? Another less pleasant memory comes to my mind. Ayato did the same. I look at my friend, with my magenta eyes widened. His turquoise eyes look back at mine with nervousness and worry written all over them.  
_ Yui, I can explain… - He says.  
_ You…you’re not human, are you? What are you?!  
_ I was going to tell you, but I was afraid! Besides, you were not ready to learn the truth yet. Yui, I’m a vampire.  
I feel my whole being sinking with shock and fear. Dylan is…the only person in my life I dared calling my “best friend” is a demon! Much worse, a vampire! Just like all the others…oh no, he fooled me!  
_ You didn’t lie to me because you cared for me…you were planning to use me all along! That’s what you vampires do! We humans are just preys for you, isn’t that true?! Now it makes sense…how you knew about the vampires’ existence!  
_ Yui, listen! That’s not true! I was trying to help!  
_ Why?! Why would a vampire want to help a human?! I see no logical reason! Is almost as saying a lion will fight another lion to save an antelope! Stay away from me, Dylan!  
_ Yui… - he comes closer, but I end up running away from him. Everything is spiraling around me with all this adrenaline coursing through my body. I don’t know how, but I managed to escape his reach and I arrive at Mr. Yagari’s apartment. I hear my father asking me if everything’s ok. I quickly nod “yes” and go to my room. I lie on bed, crying all my emotional pain out. I feel…betrayed. After shedding many tears, I close my eyes and let myself drift to sleep.  
_This place is different. This is no longer the Sakamaki Mansion, or the Mukami Mansion, or even Ryoutei Academy or Kage. It seems like I’m inside a palace. It has a beautiful garden of red roses outside, like the ones the Sakamaki Mansion had. The walls are decorated with statues of serpents and gargoyles. The color is of a dark purple, with some gold carving. It seems like I’m inside some kind of throne room. The throne consists of a beautiful chair, decorated gold carving exhibiting serpents. The throne room is lit by the light of an odd green flame, burning from the candles inside the golden candlesticks. Despite all of this macabre vision, this place is beautiful, like a masterpiece embellished with dark secrets. I take my eyes off the throne to take in my surroundings. I don’t remember being here before. Could this be the same place where I saw the Sakamakis’ mothers? But that was a castle…I know too well this throne room doesn’t look at all like that of a castle. No, my first assumption was right. I’m inside a palace. Palaces are more richly decorated than castles. It reminds me of the French Versailles’ Palace, or the Russian Winter Palace, only a darker version. When I turn to look back at the throne room, I see a shadow sitting in there. I approach the person and I realize is a woman, though I can’t exactly see her face, only her curvy body._  
_ **I see you have come. Welcome to my little dimension, girl.**  
_ _Who are you? – I ask her._  
_ **When the right time comes, you’ll know who I am. By now…you only ought to learn who YOU really are.**  
_ _You’ve been reading my thoughts? Wait! Was it your voice I heard yesterday?_  
_ **Yes. And no, I’m not exactly reading your thoughts, I can only access your feelings, but even those are secluded and specific feelings that enable me to connect to you. You can rest assured you still have some mental privacy. You can fantasize about anything else without me seeing it.**  
_I blush at her bold comment. Despite my constant nightmares, I still had one wet dream, about no one in particular. Some male figure my mind made._  
_ **But still, I am aware of your surroundings, even if on a small extent. I’m also aware of the people close to you. I see your father has returned from Europe. You’ve talked to him, haven’t you? But is he telling you the whole truth?**  
_Now, this picks my interest._  
 __ What do you mean?_  
_ **My bet is he might have something to hide from you, just as you’re hiding things from him. I see you’re becoming smarter as time passes, but you still lack experience. I can help you with that. Pay close attention to people surrounding you, it might give you bits of useful information. Then act on it.**  
I wake up. Is morning, and today is the day we depart for Koyasaka. I’m sweating. What a strange, intense dream…but could it be that…this isn’t only a dream, but some vision or some entity I can contact while asleep? After all, this isn’t the first time I hear this woman. Well, is better than having the nightmares, I think. I just wonder who she is, and what she wants…I’m too hungry to think about it, so I’ll just have breakfast for now. As I head to the kitchen, I stop. My father is talking with Mr. Yagari. I don’t know why, but I decide to eavesdrop.  
_ Do you think is that man’s doing? I mean, he somehow seems to be connected to Yui. He was the one who brought her to you, and she told you she met him as the uncle of these so called Sakamakis. – Mr. Yagari says.  
_ I don’t know, it may be. All I know is that that man was a vampire. A pureblood. He has the same name as the Vampire King’s brother, but there are other purebloods with the name “Richter”. I don’t have any proof that it could be the Prince, since I never met him personally, though I have my suspicions. I know my daughter is not telling me everything. She probably thinks, as any normal person would, that I won’t believe her. But I know something else happened, I see it in her eyes. She was among vampires. Just the thought of my girl being abused like that…God, it makes me want to kill them all! Those damn bastards! I swear to you, I will find out who they are, and they’ll pay for what they’ve done to Yui! – my father says, sounding incredibly angry, while I just stand next to the door, dumbfounded. He and Mr. Yagari know about the vampires’ existence!  
_ Is a wonder she managed to survive for such a long time. Either they got too fond of her or your daughter is abnormally resistant. Have you given a thought on it? That your daughter may…you know, not be a human at all?  
I feel my eyes widening at this new piece of information. Mr. Yagari is right, some of the Sakamakis and Mukamis may have developed some connection with me, but my blood was more important to them than myself as a whole person. By this point, I should have been dried of my blood and died, as all the other sacrificial brides. I always wondered how my body could produce more blood in such a short amount of time, given how often and how much they drank from me. It wouldn’t be surprising if it turns out I’m something entirely different from a human being.  
_ I don’t know. I considered that possibility when that Richter gave her to me when she was a baby. I thought he might have been her real father, but he confirmed to me that he was not, and that I didn’t need to know about her parents. I guess he knew who they were. I examined her, and she seemed human to me. As vulnerable as you and I. There’s the possibility that her parents might have been Richter’s preys and she was the only survivor, and for some reason, he spared her and gave her to me. But that doesn’t make sense. I’ve had an encounter with him during one of my previous missions, and he’s not merciful at all. He wouldn’t have any problem in feeding from a baby. He is somehow connected to one of the most secret and dangerous demon mafia circles. This was intentioned to happen, just as her disappearance. There must be something special about her, but I don’t know what.  
_ All of this reminds me of Kaien’s daughter, Yuuki. We all thought the girl was a human orphan, whose parents had been killed by a Level E, and she ended up saved by Kaname Kuran, a pureblood. She was then adopted by Kaien, alongside the vampire boy and later my pupil, Zero, but she was, in fact, a vampire turned human, and nonetheless, a pureblood from the Kuran Clan. Her parents were Haruka and Juuri, the younger siblings of Rido Kuran, and Kaname’s adoptive parents. Her father was defeated by her uncle, and her mother sacrificed her life to turn her into a human, so she couldn’t be tracked by Rido, and Kaname was tasked to protect her. But it turns out, this wasn’t the right way to mislead Rido, and Kaname awoke her again as a vampire for her own protection, so she could at least have her pureblood powers back to protect herself. This resulted in her having her memories back as well. Rido was finally taken down, and the girl now studies in the Night Class, alongside Kaname and the other demons.  
_ Why was Rido after the girl?  
_ He was obcessed with her mother, Juuri. He was jealous that his little brother, Haruka, was the one that married their sister. He also had ambitions for the Kurans to rise in power at the Vampire Kingdom. He disliked King Karlheinz allowing King Burai of the Viboras to have the title of Great Demon Lord after the Founders’ Extinction , and supported his younger brother’s claim to the throne, who defended that the vampires should have the supremacy in the Demon World, as they were the most ancient species after the founders. After Prince Richter became King of the Vampires and stole Burai’s place as Great Demon Lord, he’d make the Kurans the second most powerful family, by allowing Rido to become his Hand, and marrying any daughter he’d sire. He wanted to marry Juuri, but that didn’t happen, and their parents discovered his plans and were keen to stop him, so he killed them. He wanted to kill Haruka and kidnap Juuri so he could force her into being his sister-wife and breed pure Kuran children. Juuri knew this, and she knew her daughter would be harmed as well, as she was Haruka’s child. They all went into hiding, but were found, nevertheless. While Haruka died fighting Rido, Juuri died protecting Yuuki, turning her into a human so her scent changed and Rido couldn’t find her. It turns out Rido kept trying to find his niece, not to kill her this time, but to use her as a replacement for Juuri. This, of course, came out of Rido’s mouth, and words aren’t enough proof for deciding someone is guilty or innocent. Who knows? This may be true or may be a way to destabilize the Royal Family so others can rise in power. Just imagine, the King’s brother planning on usurping him! Even so, the King wasn’t worried about Rido’s death. He was, after all, in human territory, and violated the pacts celebrated between demons and humans when he attacked the Cross Academy. He was also involved in smuggling. This alone made him a high criminal and gave us hunters enough permission to shoot him down.  
Hunters? They’re…vampire hunters or something? This is certainly getting interesting.  
_ Poor Yuuki…what a story, I hope my daughter’s case doesn’t’ turn out as complicated as that one.  
_ I hope too, father. – I decide to appear, confronting them.  
_ Yui?! You were eavesdropping us?! – My father asks, shocked and outraged.  
_ I guess that’s the least important thing at stake here, dad. You are right, I hided from you the fact that the Sakamakis and Mukamis were vampires. And they drank from me many times, indeed. But you also have things to explain. I found out something while I was at the Sakamakis’, and I actually have it with me. – I go to my room and pick his diary. I get back to the kitchen and put the diary on the table, showing him the page where he reveals I’m adopted. He gulps and remains silent, probably unsure of what to say.  
_ Well, are you going to start explaining, or am I to remain unaware of everything while people toy with my life? Because if is the second option, I will kindly ask Mr. Yagari instead or find out by myself, since I’m tired of being treated like some fragile thing that can’t handle the truth about life.  
He starts speaking. He tells me he and Mr. Yagari were born at Koyasaka. The town itself was one of the most secluded bases to demon hunters in Japan. They were born to demon hunters, and they met Mr. Cross when his parents, Bulgarian hunters, moved to Japan when he was still five years old. As they grew, they became demon hunters, while conducting normal lives, because from time to time, demons would threaten the Human World, though by these late years, humans and demons have started to communicate with each other, and signed pacts to avoid the past bloody wars that took too many lives on both sides. Still, there’s still mistrust, and relations are tense, like a Cold War. The only place where humans and demons interact entirely peacefully is at Cross Academy, a project started by Mr. Cross to promote peace between both worlds, and even so, demons have their schedules at night, and humans study at daylight, their dorms are separated for security reasons and few of the human students are aware that the night students are demons, namely those who were born to the local hunter families, and who are hunters themselves. He also explained that the reason why we travelled a lot was because the religious organization he is part of is a secret network for demon hunters, and he needed to get closer to his assigned targets. This mission he’s done in Europe was the greatest he ever did in his life, as this was an international collaboration between the hunters to stop a demon mafia organization from illegally trading humans as slaves to the Demon World, and to also rescue as many of those humans as possible, with the help of demon authorities as well. He tells me about my adoption, how it was one vampire criminal named Richter who left me, when I was a baby, at his door, and since then, he’s been raising me. It makes sense that it was Richter who made me go to Kamina. Who else could make me disappear without leaving clues behind if not someone who’s a mobster? If that’s true, then I might have been one of the unfortunate humans who were traded as slaves to demons, in my case, vampires. But there’s more to it…it can’t be simply be that I was a regular sacrificial bride. I know I’m more than that. They weren’t allowed to kill me, as they had done with the others, though they came pretty close to that more than one time. And there’s that thing the Mukamis used to talk about…that I was “Eve” and they were trying to find “Adam” through my blood. I never understood what they meant, and why they couldn’t become that “Adam”. I don’t understand a damn thing about my life…what did I do to deserve this?  
Our talk is interrupted when someone knocks on our door. I have a feeling it is Dylan, so I approach it carefully. I open and I’m right. He seems…sad.  
_ Hey, Yui. Can we talk, please? – I hear him saying with a low voice, unusual of his extrovert and cheerful personality. It makes me feel bad for him, but still, I stay on guard.  
_ We can. Let’s go to my room. And don’t try anything funny, I just found out my father and Mr. Yagari are hunters.  
His face seems to pale, but nevertheless, he politely greets my father and Mr. Yagari. We sit on my bed, and he starts speaking:  
_ Yui, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth. I wanted to, I truly did! But you were so traumatized by those guys I didn’t know how you’d react. I was afraid of losing you…believe it or not, despite the short time we’ve known each other, you came to become one of the few real friends I have, and to tell you the truth, the only human one. Don’t think I did it to fool you and attack you, I’d rather die starving than hurting you. Please, tell me something…  
His eyes were shining with unshed tears. He was really trying to hold it back. It then hits me: he was a lonely person, like me. He must’ve connected to me because he needed companionship and I had so much in common with him, so I understood him better than most people. I still remember when I secretly went outside the gates of Ryoutei to cry, and we met, when he handed me his handkerchief to wipe my tears. I had Subaru’s dagger with me, and I was about to do the unthinkable: kill myself. He noticed and stopped me. We sat there for hours. He noticed a recent bite from Ruki and asked me if I was living with vampires. At first, I thought he was kidding, but he was dead serious. I told him, a stranger, what happened to me. We also talked about other things of our lives. After that, we always found a way to meet each other at Ryoutei, until he learned the whole truth and suggested helping me escape. I was so afraid, afraid that he’d turn out to be someone as evil and disturbed as the Sakamakis and Mukamis, but during all this time he has only been a great friend. He never drank from me, nor abused me. He is actually one of the few reasons I’m still holding to what’s left of my sanity. I lived for some weeks with him before we managed to contact my father, after he retrieved my phone card from the broken cellphone I kept in my bags, and he never did anything, despite having the power to do so easily. If he wanted to kill me or torture me, he would have done it earlier.  
_ Dylan…I can’t lie to you, I was upset about finding out that you were a vampire…and I panicked with the wolf scene, since it was too similar to what happened on that night. For a moment, I almost mistook you for Ayato. I’m sorry, I was afraid, I overreacted, I… - I start crying. He hugs me and pats my back.  
_ Yui…you can trust me. Not all demons are evil people. In fact, I have friends that you’d love to meet. I’m sorry for what they did to you, I know it scarred you for life, an amazing girl like you doesn’t deserve to live like this. I know you’re going to Koyasaka today…please, just let me know that we’re still friends.  
I cup his face in my hands and smile at him through my teary face.  
_ We are, Dylan.  
He smiles back and says:  
_ Good. Because I’m actually curious about Koyasaka, and I was planning to live there for a while…Tokyo is not exactly the best place for peace and quiet.  
I narrow my eyes at his statement. Has he gone crazy?!  
_ Dylan, you can’t go to Koyasaka! My father has just explained to me that the town is a base for demon hunters. You’ll be in the same danger I was when I lived at Kamina!  
_ Relax, Yui. Despite fearing them a bit, I know demon hunters won’t hurt me without reason. And I’m quite an amiable vampire, if the situation doesn’t demand me to fight back. I’ll be fine. It is you who I’m worried about. I have something to tell you…  
_ What?  
_ Is about the wolf…it was a familiar. Before you ask, familiars are animals created through magical energy, and they’re under control of their creator, who’s usually a magical being, though humans can do it too through amulets. But there was something special about those wolf familiars. As you may know, there are different kinds of demons: vampires, werewolves, harpies and viboras, and few hybrids. There are also other species, like the mermaids, fairies, elves and giants, but those are not considered demons, as they’re not affected by the Moon. We call them “mystics”. What I’m trying to say, every species has their characteristic when it concerns biology and magic. For example, the color of the magical aura of a vampire is red, the werewolf’s is silver grey, the vibora’s is green and the harpie’s is golden yellow. Not only that, but animal familiars are limited to demons by their blood nature. Vampires are demons originated from bats, the werewolves came from wolves, the viboras from serpents, and the harpies from raptors. This means they can only create familiars of bats, wolves, serpents and predatory birds, respectively, unlike the other magical species. We could conclude those wolves would have been sent by werewolves…but they were not. Do you know why? Remember how they looked like.  
_ They…shined. And that shine was…reddish.  
_ Exactly, if they were a werewolf’s familiars, their shine would be silver. Only vampires have a red aura, but again, they can only create bats as their familiars. That leaves the non-demon species, who can create various types of familiars. But they too have a specific color on their aura. The mermaids’ aura is blue, the fairies’ aura is pink, the elves’ aura is violet, and the giants’ aura is brownish orange. Each type of aura has its particularities, adapting to its species. There was only one species that could use all types of auras and all the familiars they wanted, from which the demons and the mystics descend. That was the first species that existed on the Demon and Mystic Worlds: the Founders or First Blood.  
_ Founders…I heard my father talking about them! He said they were…extinct?  
_ Almost extinct. There are survivors, but they are hiding from the Vibora King. You see, the founder kings ruled over all the Demon World as Great Demon Lords, while the mystics achieved their independence at some point, and they live in another continent we call the Mystic World. But there was a mortal virus that wiped away most of the founder race: the Endzeit. No one knows what caused it or how it can be cured. But there have been few people that survived it, because they weren’t at the Founder Kingdom at the time the contamination happened, or they simply avoided being contaminated by those who were sick, or, in rare cases, they were immune to the disease. Since then, the Founder Kingdom has been sealed by the other demon kingdoms, because the kings feared it could spread to the other races. To maintain the Demon World’s unity, a new Great Demon Lord needed to be elected, and his line would continue to have the position, as it had been with the founders. Burai, the Vibora King, was chosen, and now the viboras have the supremacy. You can only imagine what a founder’s existence could mean to Burai’s legacy, even if they don’t exactly descend from the Founder Royal Family.  
_ They’d still have more claim to the Demon World’s supremacy. I suppose the supremacy isn’t just the title of some royal bloodline, it is the honor of a whole race. If there’s a living founder, the title should be his or hers, not Burai’s, even more so if they descend from the Founder Royal Family! But Dylan…how do you know all of this? How do you know there are still founders around when most people believe they’re extinct?  
_ Let’s just say…I have my connections. Though they’re certainly not the people who are after you, I assure you that. The Founder Kingdom’s seal has broken after about 219 years...those guys may be survivors inside the Founder Kingdom. You must have something precious, if those founders are after you. We just need to know what and why they want it. Don’t worry, perhaps the hunters at Koyasaka may help us investigate this!  
_ I hope so…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, one more chapter, woooo! I’m sorry for making you wait for two months, many things have been happening in my life. My aunt died recently of cancer, and I had college to deal with, so the writing may be a little slow, since I do this for fun and I clearly have my priorities. However, I’ll try my best to keep this fanfic going. I’ll be needing your support for that, so…stay tuned, warriors! I don’t know how this is going to end, to be honest, so anything can happen, though I’ll try to not fuck up my writing as (SPOILER ALERT!) D&D fucked up Game of Thrones’ last season XD


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